Battle for Occupied America
Confronting Fate Hits Online Shelves Soon
Here’s an excerpt from my latest time travel conspiracy thriller:
I warped into occupied America west of the PacFor base camp I was somewhat familiar with.
I didn't see anything in the sky, and wondered if my calculations were even close. But after parking inside a grove of trees and killing the engine, I heard it: several turbine engines spooling up. In minutes, rotorblades began to beat against the air. The whine and pounding grew louder as the choppers lifted off. I started the Jeep, eased it over to the tree line and scanned the base camp with binoculars. The flight of helicopters flew in formation toward their target. I shifted to scanning the ground, hoping my timing was right.
It was right, but I questioned the wisdom of my own plan as a battalion-sized element of cloaked SWAT vans and choppers warped in and converged on my position.
I gulped and sent the Jeep lurching from cover. I floored the gas and banged through the gears, bouncing the Jeep over the field just as fast as its little engine would push it.
The Erasers saw me and moved to intercept. There were dozens of vehicles on land and in the sky, but nobody had opened fire on me, yet.
A SWAT van headed me off at a perpendicular angle, to block my route of escape. I swerved hard, bringing the Jeep up off two wheels, right at the tipping point. I got around behind the SWAT van, my two airborne tires crashed back down to Earth, and I managed to downshift as I was bounced out of my seat for a moment. I corrected course and accelerated away. Two smaller vehicles…much nimbler than the SWAT vans, sped toward me from each side, as if to ram me into a Jeep sandwich. I caught third gear and punched the gas, shooting the gap before it fully closed.
By now, I could hear the roar of the incoming P-40 Warhawk even over the engine noise on the ground. I spotted the old, beautiful bird winging for the base camp.
I glanced in the rear view mirror. The Erasers were bearing down on me, throwing dust into the air. Without polarized lenses, it probably would have appeared an army of ghosts was charging across the field. Then, at the first pulse from the P-40, most of the ghosts became visible.
SWAT vans stalled in place and suddenly visible helicopters crashed to Earth. On the P-40's next pass over the base camp, more active camouflage was fried and electronically controlled engines were knocked out. My Jeep was old, and I had never upgraded the engine to electronic ignition. It kept rolling along. I turned away from the base camp on a southward course and slowed down, so I could observe the Erasers. Like ants from a kicked hill, they swarmed out of their immobile vehicles. Those with rifles aimed after me. I sped up and turned back toward the base camp.
Bullets snapped by and one whacked into the Jeep's rear bumper.
So, they don't need to take me alive anymore?
PacFor troops poured out of the barracks after the P-40's strafing run. Some manned AAA guns. I oscillated the steering wheel, sending the Jeep in a zigzag pattern.
The scatterbomb hit the base camp and a wildfire of explosions spread over the buildings and artillery battery. Surviving PacFor soldiers jumped to their feet. Some of them pointed at me. I changed back to a southerly course. Now PacFor soldiers were pointing at the Erasers, fully exposed in the open field.
"Skol!" I cried, raising my free fist. But my victory whoop was cut short when a bullet went through my arm. The Jeep swerved, but I fought through the pain and shock to keep it under control. I floored the gas and managed to upshift with my wounded arm. The pain was bad, but not as bad as it would be once the shock wore off. I punched in coordinates for the warp generator on the interface. I craned my neck to see what I was leaving behind. To my satisfaction, I saw soldiers at the base camp firing at the exposed Erasers.
My satisfaction didn't last long. The Jeep hit a sinkhole, hidden by the grass, way too fast. I heard crunching metal just before my spine compacted and I was launched out of the seat. As if in slow motion, I saw the Jeep tumbling through the air. Then my spinning body hit the ground. Hit it again. And again. Then something smacked my head with sickening force.